Name chowk after Bhagat Singh: Pak civil society

Pakistani civil society activists have demanded that the square in Lahore where Bhagat Singh was hanged over eight decades ago should be renamed after the freedom fighter to honour his struggle to free the people of the region from the suppression and cruelty of British rule.

During a ceremony held last evening at Shadman Chowk, the spot where Singh was hanged on March 23, 1931, with his fellow freedom fighters Rajguru and Sukhdev, the activists paid rich tributes to the freedom fighters and demanded that the Pakistan government rename the square as Bhagat Singh Chowk.

A candlelight vigil was part of the event organized by the Bhagat Singh Foundation.

Speakers said Singh was the man who showed the way to the people of the Indian subcontinent to attain independence from British rule.

"Bhagat Singh was born in Banga a village of what was then Lyallpur (now Faisalabad) on September 27, 1907. He didn't offer his life for a specific country, region or the nation, as he did this only to save the people from the British rulers' massive tyranny and plundering," said Abdullah Malik, head of the Bhagat Singh Foundation.

"He was of the view that the British rulers had illegally possessed the region just to loot its resources, depriving those who actually had the right to use these," Malik said while addressing the participants of the ceremony that marked the 81st death anniversary of the freedom fighter.

Malik said civil society organizations of Pakistan believed that the heroes of the independence movement, including Singh, should be recognised without any discrimination.

"Though Singh was a hero of the independence movement before 1947, today's historians have forgotten him and several others," he said.

The governments of Pakistan and India should pay rich tributes to all heroes who sacrificed themselves for the sake of getting freedom from the British by holding events and functions.

He urged the government of Pakistan's Punjab province to immediately rename Shadman Chowk as Bhagat Singh Chowk.

In a related development, the Ajoka Theatre group premiered a documentary titled "Becoming Bhagat Singh", directed by Nirvaan Nadeem, at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture to commemorate Singh’s death anniversary.

Bollywood film director Mahesh Bhatt, who was the guest of honour on the occasion, said Singh believed in the dignity of man and a never-ending revolution.

He should not only be remembered on March 23 but every day because of his revolutionary thoughts, Bhatt said.

Bhatt lauded the documentary for having a lot of information about Singh's life.